Immobilia Building

Conceived by Khedive Ismail after Paris´s elegant boulevards, it quickly became the most exclusive part of Cairo, reserved for the ruler's closest friends and top aides.

[3] In the late 19th century the same site as the Immobilia building today was occupied by a three-story villa built in a medieval Mamluk style for the Khedive's French horse-trainer, Gaston de Saint-Maurice (1831 – 1905).

[4][6] Under the instruction of Ahmed Abboud Pasha, president of the Al-Ahly Club and the richest person in Egypt in the 1930s, Max Edrie and Gaston Rossi designed the Immobilia building.

[8] The campaigns highlighted the building's strong foundations that would not be affected by earthquakes, and stated that tenants would be exempted from paying rent for a period of three months.

It was also in one of the building's elevators, where Naguib el-Rihani asked Leila Mourad to act alongside him in the movie “Ghazl Al Banat” (English: The Flirtation of Girls), a masterpiece of Egypt's Golden Age of Cinema.

[6] Previously, a sign bore the names of Immobilia's most prestigious visitors and thereby reminded passersby of the building's historical glory and contemporary importance.

[12] Nowadays, in light of the hustle and bustle of the Downtown area, many owners of the residential units rent their apartments to commercial offices, law firms, and private companies.